Asahel g



(N0 ModeL) G. W. CURTIS, A. G. DARWIN & G. C. DAVIS.

GAR COUPLING.

No. 327,661 Patented Oct. 6, I885.

INVENTORS WITNESSES:

Warren States Patent GEORGE XV. CURTIS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVAN IA, ASAIIEL G. DAR- WIN, OE GLEN RIDGE, NEWV JERSEY, AND CHARLES C. DAVIS, OE PHIL- ADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA; SAID'DARXVIN AXD CURTIS ASSIGNORS TO SAID CHARLES C. DAVIS, FOR HIMSELF AND AS TRUSTEE.

CAR-COUPLlNG.

:EPECIPICATIUN forming part of Letters Patent No. 327,661, dated October 6, 1885.

Application filed June 5, 1985.

To all whom 272 may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE W. CURTIS, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ASAHEL G. DARWIN, of Glen Ridge, Essex county, New Jersey, and CHARLES C. DAVIS, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and all citizens of the United States, have jointly invented an Improved Car-Coupling, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement upon a certain car-coupling invented by the said George TV. Curtis, and patented to him in and by United States Letters Patent No. 234,175, issued November 9, 1880, to which patent reference is directed for the better understand ing of this improvement.

The said patented invention belongs to a class of car-couplings in which the ordinary closed oval link is employed in connection with a coupling-hook which is pivoted and adapted to slide within a draw-head.

Our invention is also an improvement upon a certain improved carcoupling invented jointly by George \V. Curtis and John \Vood, Jr., the said improvement being itself an improvement upon the said patented invention of Curtis, for which joint improvement application for patent was filed in the United States Patent Office January 31, 1885, as Serial No. 154,509.

The present invention may also, if desired, be employed, in connection with certain improved devices invented by the said Curtis, for connecting the conpling-hook with the crank and chain in such manner that the coupling can be readily employed with cars in which it is an essential that the draw-head should not project more than a short distance beyond the platform, buffer-head, or end of the car, and in which, in consequence of such con dition, the chain and crank must be applied in such position that the pull upon the coupling-hook, instead of being backward at a comparatively slight angle, must of necessity be almost directly upward and at an abrupt anglea result accomplished by providing, in connection with the coupling-hook, a cam or Serial X0. 167,750. (Yo model.)

eccentric controlled by the chain and its crank, and acting against the d raw-head as a resist-ingsurface.

The specific object of our invention is to provide the Curtis coupling with a non-detachable closed oval link, which is adapted to be carried by and, if desired, within the drawhead, and which can either be used at pleasure or thrown out of action, while, however, still contained within the head, in such manner as not to interfere with the employment of another link.

Apparatus constructed in substantial accordance with that represented in the drawings and described in this specification embodies a good form of our improvement.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a central, vertical, longitudinal, sectional elevation through a coupling embodying our improvements, a link being represented as entered within its sunken seat. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail of a similar character, representing the sunken link of Fig. 1 as engaged within the supplenien tal notch of the co upling-hook and coupled thereby. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan on the clot ted line a a; of Fig. 1, representing, however, the coupling-link removed, so as to expose the slot within which its leg plays and the link broken. Fig. 4t is a view similar to Fig. 2, with the parts in the same position, a link, however, being represented as entered within the sunken-link slot, and another link being represented in the act of being entered within the draw-head.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the draw-head, and A the enlarged buffer-head thereof. 'a is the shoulder beneath which the notched head of the coupling-hook engages. B is the coupling-hook, which is provided with pivots b. C is the platform or frame-work of the car; E, the crank applied thereto, and F the chain, rod, link, or kindred connection, which is operated by the crank, and which, according to the Curtis patented invention, is directly connected with the coupling-hook. G is the spring-controlled buffer, which operates in connection with the coupling-hook.

The foregoing are features described and claimed in the Curtis patented invention.

H is a cam or cam-faced lever, preferably made in the form of a yoke and pivoted at b to the couplinghook'. This cam device is, as represented in the drawings, essentially a lever of the first order, one arm or member of which is connected with the chain, rod, or link, which at its opposite extremity is connected with the wrist-pin of the crank, and the other arm member or extremity of which is provided with a cam-surface, h, adapted to act against the rear face of the buffer-head of the draw-head, or, if desired, against any projection or rigid fixture upon said draw-head. This cam-faced lever may be made in the form of a lever-y0ke adapted to straddle the coupling-hook, in which case it'is of course provided with two cam-surfaces, one upon each side of the coupling-hook, both of which bear and are adapted to act against the bufferhead.

In the normal position of the parts, or when an entered link has been coupled by the hook, the cam-lever occupies the position shown in Fig; 2, in which position the head, or the notch in the head, of the hook is engaged with the shoulder of the buft'enhead.

When it is desired to uncouple, the crank is thrown from the position represented in Fig. 2 to that represented in Fig. 1, and in so doing the action is to'elevate the rear or yoke end of the cam-lever about its pivot, and so to cause its cam-surfaces to act against the bufferhead,with the result that, the buffer-head not yielding, the couplinghook is drawn back ward, compressing the spring buffer until such movement of the hook has been effected as to secure the release of its head from beneath the shoulder on the buffer-head, the book, so soon as said release has been accomplished, being lifted by the chain and camlever, then being a part of the chain, so to speak, into the position representedin Fig. 1.

I11 the said last-named position, (represented in Fig. 1,)the crank having been'deflected completely backward, the hook is sustained in such position that the automatic coupling is impossible.

The foregoing features, which relate to the cam-lever, are, as already stated, described and claimed in an application for patent made by the said Curtis.

I is a closed oval link, which it is the object of our invention to connect with the drawhead in such a manner that it is non-d'etachable therefrom except after the removal of the coupling-hook. I i J is a sunken seat formed in the under portion of the draw-head, and preferably conformed to the outline of the link, so that the link may lie snugly therein in the manner rep-v resented in Figs. 1, 3, and 4. x

j is a thumb-notch formed in the forward introduce the hand or a finger thereof into the sunken seat, so as to permit thelink to be grasped and manually withdrawn from its seat.

within which the leg Z) of the coupling'hook plays. The coupling-hook B is provided with a supplemental notch, if, to the rear of theleg, which is inclosed at the back by supplemental leg b in order that the coupling-link may at will be engaged within the supplemental notch b and so that, when in such position, which is represented in Fig. 2, an inward or backward thrust upon said link will act through the supplemental leg to compress the spring-buffer.

a is a preferably hemispherical recess formed in the basal portion of the draw head, and adapted to receive the inner end of the link when the latter is drawn from out its sunken seat and tilted or lifted up into the position represented in dotted lines in Fig. 1, for the purpose of engaging said link within the supplemental notch of the coupling-hook. Such being a description of a good form of appara tus embodying our invention, its operation will be readily understood. When it is desired to throw the link out of use, it is slipped within the'sunken seat, as represented in Fig. 1, and in this position it 'does not interfere with the operation of the coupling-hook, as a reference to Fig. 1 will indicate, nor yet, as indicated in Fig. 4, prevent the introduction of another coupling-link over it. When a second link is entered over a link within the link-seat, the second link engages behind the hooking nose of the hook and not behind the leg. When, on the other hand, it is desired to throw into action a link already within the sunken seat, the link is grasped-the coupling'hook being first tilted upwarddrawn out through the mouth of the buffer-head, and, as indicated in dotted lines in said Fig.1, thrown or flexed downward until its rear closed end,which enters the recess a engages within the supplemental notch of the coupling-hook,after which an inward thrust of the link, which will be resisted by the supplemental leg b will occasion the engagement of the head of the coupling-hook with the shoulder on the buffer-head in the manner represented in Fig. 2. 1

It will therefore be obvious that the provision of a seat for a retained link within the head will in no wise interfere with the operation of the device as an entirety with a separate and independent link, nor yet with the operation of the coupling-hook, spring-buffer, crank, chain, and cam-lever. When the link is within the sunken seat, it is preferable that it should not project above the level of the upper surface of the under surface of the hollow interior of the drawhead. The link, as stated, is introduced before the coupling-hook a is a slot in the base of the draw-head,

too

IIO

is inserted, and after the hook is inserted the link cannot be removed Without removing the hook.

Having thus described our invention, we claim 1. The combination, in a earcoupling, of a draw-head, a pivoted coupling-hook, the head of which is adapted to engage with a shoulder, notch, or projection upon the draw-head, a spring-buffer, a seat Within the draw-head, and a coupling-link adapted to said seat, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, in a car-coupling, of a draw-head, a pivoted coupling'hook, the head of which is adapted to engage with a shoulder, notch, or projection upon the drawhead, a spring-buffer, a seat within the draw-head for a coupling-link, and a recess below the level of said seat, substantially as and for the pur poses set forth.

3. In a car-coupling of the class herein set forth, the combination of a slotted draw-head, a pivoted coupling hook provided with a hooking nose, at depending leg, a supple mental notch, and asuppleniental leg,a springbuffer, a seat within the draw-head for a coup- GEORGE w. CURTIS. ASAHEL e. DARWIN. CHARLES C. DAVIS.

Vitnesses to signature of George V. Curtis:

J. BONSALL TAYLOR, J OHN J OLLEY, Jr.

\Vit-nesses to signature of Asahel G. Darwin:

HAL BELL, A. B. DAVIS.

\Vitnesses to signature of Charles C. Davis:

J. BONSALL TAYLOR, J AMES L. Pi-rILLIrs. 

